Regenstein Library to celebrate 50 years of innovation, inquiry
This fall, the University of Chicago’s Joseph Regenstein Library invites the UChicago neighborhood to join a yearlong event of its 50th anniversary.
Given that its devotion on Oct. 31, 1970, the library has actually been a center of innovation and questions on campus and a symbol of the University’s academic eminence. The huge, brutalist structure understood by many as “The Reg” serves not only as a center for extensive research but also as a space for student life and knowing.
“Over the last 50 years, Regenstein Library has contributed and reacted to tremendous shifts in the methods understanding is expanded and shared, scholarly disciplines are shaped, students are transformed and intellectual neighborhoods are convened and strengthened,” said Brenda Johnson, Library Director and University Curator. “As we mark its 50th anniversary, we will not only commemorate decades of contributions, however go over ingenious new ways of linking scientists and supporting their intellectual pursuits.”
The UChicago Library will host a series of online occasions this scholastic year to discuss the past, present, and future of Regenstein. The first is a Sept. 22 online conversation between John W. Boyer, dean of the College, and Anne Walters Robertson, dean of the Department of the Humanities, about how Regenstein Library introduced a brand-new era of academic distinction for UChicago.
An enduring– and evolving– hub of development
Developed on the previous website of Stagg Field, where Enrico Fermi and other scientists achieved the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear response in 1942, the library was developed amidst a duration of “heady optimism” at the University, Boyer composed in. According to Boyer, the library was the cornerstone of then-Provost Edward H. Levi’s plan to invest in brand-new capital improvements in the late 1960s.
As now, the structure left an impression. When the library was first unveiled, it rose from the demolition of the old Stagg Field wall– emerging “full-fledged from the head of Zeus,” as the University of Chicago Publication composed in its November 1970 edition– a remarkable and motivating addition to the campus architecture.
Funded in part by a generous gift from the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation, the library brought together scattered department collections to better foster interdisciplinary research. As an unique intellectual convener for scholars and trainees, Regenstein homes world-class liberal arts, social science and business collections– as well as the Unique Collections Proving Ground, which includes the University’s unusual books, manuscripts and archives.
Regenstein has 4.5 million print volumes and an ever-expanding series of media, from CDs and DVDs to ebooks, digital journals and streaming audio and video. The UChicago Library has also played a leading role in the adoption, customization and development of new research innovations.
Its digital innovations began throughout the early days of library automation in the 1970s– when the UChicago Library established its own mainframe-based management system– and continues with the existing usage of an open-source system that UChicago librarians developed with coworkers at other leading university libraries. Regenstein is now establishing a next-generation library management system with global partners.
The library’s 2018 launch of the Center for Digital Scholarship also assists faculty and trainees check out new methodologies, analyze intricate information and share and protect research results– bolstering Regenstein’s function as a nexus of concepts and community.
UChicago neighborhood welcomed to get involved
In addition to the conversation between Boyer and Robertson, a series of other online talk with be revealed later this scholastic year will check out the library’s present and future.
UChicago Library likewise invites faculty, trainees, personnel, alumni and visiting scientists to send their preferred stories, pictures and ephemera recording Regenstein’s history to the library for conservation in the University of Chicago Archives. If you are interested in contributing, contact [email protected].